Press Release

The Great Database of Corgi; ToyPedia Documents Every Corgi Model Ever Made

Having all but polished off its Dinky guide with the help of some 25 volunteers, ToyPedia® – Toy Collector’s wiki-based online database of collectable toys and models – has set its sights on Corgi. This time, though, the company is still around to help out.

London, United Kingdom, December 10, 2011 --(PR.com)-- The Dinky listings – in excess of 20,000 individual items – were compiled with the help of information provided by Dinky expert Jacques Dujardin, plus Toy Collector members scattered all across the world, including members from as far afield as Canada, New Zealand, the UK and mainland Europe, plus images provided by Christie’s and 14 other auction houses. Similarly, the Corgi listings will be compiled by volunteers and member-experts. They will, however, have the added advantage of Corgi still being in existence and providing access to its archives – a huge help in cataloging the company’s prolific output since the demise of Mettoy, the original parent company. The downside is, of course, that since Corgi’s still going strong, there are far, far more items to catalogue than Dinky had, and listing them is also more complex. Corgi’s Martyn Weaver estimates the company’s output since it began in the hundreds of thousands of individual models. “It’s a huge amount to catalogue,” he said, “but a great project. Corgi is part of our cultural history and to have its entire output since inception catalogued in one place like this is a unique archiving opportunity that we seized once we were asked about it. Producing a book that covered absolutely every variant of every Corgi toy ever made would be impossible as it would weigh more than a ton, so this is an ingenious alternative. We’ll be helping in any way we can.”

The process is already underway, with about 75% of the early Mettoy era models catalogued and work ongoing on the later models, with several of these ranges also already listed. But even with such a mammoth task at hand, the volunteers luckily don’t need to worry if they do miss a model, since the ToyPedia interface allows information to be updated and altered on an ongoing basis, so if one of the 100,000 does get skipped by accident, it’s no disaster.

Besides Corgi themselves, the project also has backing from Marcel Van Cleemput, author of The Great Book of Corgi and ex-Chief Designer from 1954 to 1983 for the range during the Mettoy period and afterwards, ex-Corgi Development Director Paul Lumsdon from 1998 to 2011 and Wolfgang Gehrt who is a member of the ToyPedia Advisory Board and is currently co-writing a book on Husky models and Corgi Juniors. “This is a very exciting – if somewhat daunting – thing to embark on,” Lumsdon said. “But having seen what’s been achieved with Dinky, I’m sure all concerned will be more than up to the task!” Adam Dhabi, the Corgi project coordinator adds, “We are assembling a team of up to 50 Corgi fans to complete this project in the next six months, if you are interested please get in touch on corgiproject@toycollector.com.”

About Corgi

Corgi is one of the best known toy and collectables brands. Corgi Toys was launched in 1956 as a new range of die cast toy model cars by Mettoy Playcraft LTD. Corgi reformed as Corgi Toys Ltd. in 1984 and started distributing in Europe, Australia and the USA. In 1995, Corgi regained its independence as a new company and was renamed as Corgi Classics Limited. In May 2008 the international models and collectables group Hornby agreed to buy the brand, tooling and intellectual property rights from Corgi International Limited.

Although Corgi is well known for the production of die-cast collectables such as planes, cars, buses and trucks, the company has also won awards for toys for younger children. Corgi also holds several film, television and comic licenses and has produced well known and loved models based around James Bond, Dr Who, and Batman as well as Captain Scarlet and Wallace & Gromit.

About Toy Collector

Launched in 2008, Toy Collector is a web portal for collectable toy and model enthusiasts designed to allow collectors to share their passions via blogging, discussion forums, picture and video galleries. The site currently hosts over 25,000 toy-related articles and over 180,000 images. It offers resources like want ads and a yellow pages supplier directory and boasts the largest toy-and model-related event calendar on the internet. It also hosts ToyPedia® and the TC Market.

For selling on the market or more information on the site please go to www.ToyCollector.com or contact Laurent on laurent@toycollector.com or +44 (1494) 727 947.

ToyPedia®In addition to all this, the site features ToyPedia® – a Wikipedia-style online encyclopaedia of collectable toys which currently covers over 167,000 items and is growing constantly.

Currently, the project is supported by;

. 27 communities including www.DiecastAviationForum.com www.HobbyTalk.com, www.ModelRailForum, www.SlotForum.com and www.Wings900.com· 670 volunteers· 12 authors who have permitted the organisers to use text and images from 26 books as part of a ToyPedia Book Documentation Project· 355 toy brands who have agreed to open their archives· 15 leading auction houses including Bonham’s and Christie’s have allowed use of their images· 3 Museums (Brussels Toy Museum, Singapore’s MINT Museum and the Los Angeles Slot Car Museum)· 32 members of the ToyPedia Advisory Board who advise on organisation and taxonomy

For more information please go to www.ToyCollector.com/ToyPedia or contact Louisa Cross, the ToyPedia Curator on louisa@toycollector.com or +44 (1494) 727 947.